57 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
57 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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stage: none
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group: Development
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info: "See the Technical Writers assigned to Development Guidelines: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments-to-development-guidelines"
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description: "Understand what 'GitLab features deployed behind flags' means."
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---
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# GitLab functionality may be limited by feature flags
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> Feature flag documentation warnings were [introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/227806) in GitLab 13.4.
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GitLab releases some features in a disabled state using [feature flags](../development/feature_flags/index.md),
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allowing them to be tested by specific groups of users and strategically
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rolled out until they become enabled for everyone.
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As a GitLab user, this means that some features included in a GitLab release
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may be unavailable to you.
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In this case, you'll see a warning like this in the feature documentation:
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This in-development feature might not be available for your use. There can be
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[risks when enabling features still in development](#risks-when-enabling-features-still-in-development).
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Refer to this feature's version history for more details.
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In the version history note, you'll find information on the state of the
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feature flag, including whether the feature is on ("enabled by default") or
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off ("disabled by default") for self-managed GitLab instances and for users of
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GitLab.com. To see the full notes:
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1. Click the three-dots icon (ellipsis) to expand version history notes:
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1. Read the version history information:
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If you're a user of a GitLab self-managed instance and you want to try to use a
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disabled feature, you can ask a [GitLab administrator to enable it](../administration/feature_flags.md),
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although changing a feature's default state isn't recommended.
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If you're a GitLab.com user and the feature is disabled, be aware that GitLab may
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be working on the feature for potential release in the future.
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## Risks when enabling features still in development
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Features that are disabled by default may change or be removed without notice in a future version of GitLab.
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Data corruption, stability degradation, or performance degradation might occur if
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you enable a feature that's disabled by default. Problems caused by using a default
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disabled feature aren't covered by GitLab support, unless you were directed by GitLab
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to enable the feature.
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## Risks when disabling released features
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In most cases, the feature flag code is removed in a future version of GitLab.
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If and when that occurs, from that point onward you can't keep the feature in a disabled state.
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